sniper wrote:I like that the pros get to play. The Olympics should be the best competing against the best. If it's amateur vs amateurs what is that really proving? That you are the best of group that isn't good enough to make the pros? Who cares about that?

I wish they were held every year. The every 4 year thing is ok, but you could have a participant who might have won something miss out due to injury and then 8 years will have gone by and they aren't at their physical peak anymore. It's more of a who happens to be best at the time the games are held than a who is the best in the world. Most of the time it's going to be the same person/team, but having the event held more frequently would remove any doubt.

The competition to me is really about testing each country's entire development system. You pick the best players the country has produced and set them against eachother every 4 years. Sure a single player missing from the competition might have a huge impact on a team like Slovakia (Chara, for instance). But Stamkos missing from Canada is not going to matter all that much, which is a testament to their hockey development system.

It's great that the US is now an elite team. Goes to show how far hockey has come in this country.

I wasn't just talking about hockey though. There are a lot of individual competitions out there where you could have the best person in the world get injured and they miss the Olympics. That's why I kind of view the winners at the Olympics of the best of that day, not necessarily the best in the world even though in a lot of cases they probably are. I'd like to see them have a best in the world even annually. Plus it's fun to watch.

skullman80 wrote:I think a gold medal would mean alot more to a good majority of the players than a stanley cup would. It would to me as a player. I'm not trying to downplay winning a cup, but that medal represents your country not just one city that you play for.

Antonio wrote:1) Most importantly to me, the Olympics were always historically for amateurs. I detested it within the US started sending professionals to Olympic Games.

The Olympics are about the BEST in the world at your particular sport. There NONE better than NHL players at hockey.

Antonio wrote:2) I feel that the players who make millions and millions of dollars because of the loyalty of fans of a given team should be primarily concerned with that team. if someone gets hurt and have a major impact on the season of the team because of the Olympics I don't feel that that is fair to the fans. Ultimately, the fan should be the primary concern since they are the ones who make the entire league function.

This is the gripe I have with Americans -- no sense of Patriotic pride. Ask a Canadian, Russian, Finn, Swede how they feel about representing their country.

My nation got hosed out of the gold in the team speed skating event that just ended about an hour ago because Ahn is allowed to skate for whoever he wants. Why get emotionally invested in nationalism when it's a farce?

Rocco wrote:I wouldn't mind if hockey created its own World Cup and the Olympics were U-21.

This. I prefer the younger guys having another shot at a top-tier global competition. The fact that the Olympics is always in the middle of the NHL season makes it hard to rationalize... Isles fans probably feel that way right about now, also.

There are several series per playoff year that are tougher on the teams involved than the olympic tournament is on any team ever. I don't think there is much of a comparison. I don't doubt that there are a lot of people that take a much greater pride in representing their country though.

Someone suggested they should play hockey in the summer Olymipics not during the regular season. SO if you are going to to let them play they can do it on their own time not on the owners time or the fans time.

Olympic hockey is exciting and I did enjoy the games I watched, but I really didn't like the NHL stopping everything for this.

Love them. Games that matter. Olympics - or regular season game against the Islanders and the like?

I pick Olympic games. In fact, I feel there are way too many regular season games and I understand it's because of money included, but Olympic games once in four years are far more interesting than some 82 games of little significance every single year. What does it matter if we win our next game and lose the one after that? Pretty much nothing, especially compared to the Olympic final tomorrow.

To me it is like a have your cake and eat it to kind of mentality. I get it is an honor, I get you want to do it, etc. We all have to make choices, sacrifices and compromises in life though. Personally, I feel if you have the life of a filthy rich MEGA millionaire as an NHL star, you have to give certain things up. You are insanely rich solely due to the fans who give their hard earned money to support you and see their team play. They don't pay for you to indulge your dreams of playing for Team USA/Canada/whatever. That is why amateurs used to play in the Olympics. No one makes you go pro, no one makes you earn a ton of money playing in the NHL. If it is THAT important to you, then stay out of the NHL and play in the Olympics. When players like Tavares or Martin or Zetterberg or etc etc etc get seriously injured and it has a major impact on the entire team, and its season, many other people are affected. The legions of fans who make the entire NHL even possible to begin with, the 95% of other players on your team that didn't play in the Olympics and now have their season impacted, etc. When effectively, people like us "pay their salary" there should be some commitment and responsibility to those people and that team and that league.

Antonio wrote:To me it is like a have your cake and eat it to kind of mentality. I get it is an honor, I get you want to do it, etc. We all have to make choices, sacrifices and compromises in life though. Personally, I feel if you have the life of a filthy rich MEGA millionaire as an NHL star, you have to give certain things up. You are insanely rich solely due to the fans who give their hard earned money to support you and see their team play. They don't pay for you to indulge your dreams of playing for Team USA/Canada/whatever. That is why amateurs used to play in the Olympics. No one makes you go pro, no one makes you earn a ton of money playing in the NHL. If it is THAT important to you, then stay out of the NHL and play in the Olympics. When players like Tavares or Martin or Zetterberg or etc etc etc get seriously injured and it has a major impact on the entire team, and its season, many other people are affected. The legions of fans who make the entire NHL even possible to begin with, the 95% of other players on your team that didn't play in the Olympics and now have their season impacted, etc. When effectively, people like us "pay their salary" there should be some commitment and responsibility to those people and that team and that league.

Amen! Also if the players insist on going to the Olympics, they should forfeit salary for any NHL time they miss due to injury at the Olympics. They should also be forced to buy insurance to compensate ticket holders for reduced entertainment value for any NHL time they miss due to injury at the Olympics. Maybe then they would not be so enthusiastic about participating.